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Planetary Sciences news
'Interstellar glaciers': NASA's SPHEREx maps vast galactic ice regions
NASA's SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization, and Ices Explorer) mission has mapped interstellar ice at an unprecedented scale. Covering regions in our Milky Way galaxy more than ...
Astronomy
12 minutes ago
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Planets need more water to support life than scientists previously thought
Unfortunately for science fiction fans, desert worlds outside our solar system are unlikely to host life, according to new research from the University of Washington. Scientists show that an Earth-sized planet needs at least ...
Astrobiology
52 minutes ago
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Astronomers crack a decades-old mystery, catching gas morphing into planet-building disks around newborn stars
An international team led by Dr. Indrani Das of Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics (ASIAA) has shown, for the first time, how infalling gas from star-forming cores gradually transitions into planet-forming ...
Astronomy
1 hour ago
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Exploring the moon's shadowy craters with nuclear-powered rovers
NASA and other space agencies are intent on sending astronauts back to the moon, and this time, to stay! A vital part of these plans for reducing costs and dependency on Earth is the process of In-Situ Resource Utilization ...
Planetary Sciences
3 hours ago
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Alien life may hide in plain sight: Statistical patterns across exoplanets move beyond traditional biosignatures
A research team has developed a new approach to detecting life beyond Earth that does not rely on identifying specific biological markers. Instead, the study suggests that life may be detectable through patterns emerging ...
Astrobiology
3 hours ago
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The Zhamanshin impact event was likely much more destructive than thought
Earth and the course of life on Earth have been shaped by impacts. Scientists have uncovered links between massive impacts and changes in climate that altered the planet forever. But the further scientists look into the past ...
Planetary Sciences
3 hours ago
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'Bathtub ring' hints at ancient Martian ocean
Caltech researchers have identified geological features on Mars that could point to the existence of a long-dried ocean that once covered a third of the Red Planet's surface. The research was conducted by former Caltech postdoctoral ...
Astrobiology
4 hours ago
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Dark volcanic ash has visibly reshaped Martian surface since 1976
Noticeable change on Mars often takes millions of years—but the European Space Agency's Mars Express has captured a blanket of dark ash creeping across the planet in just decades.
Astronomy
4 hours ago
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Astronomers reveal always-changing multi-planet system
Astronomers at The University of New Mexico have published new research confirming three bodies orbiting the dynamic exoplanet system TOI-201. They include a super-Earth (TOI-201 d), a warm Jupiter (TOI-201 b), and a brown ...
Astronomy
5 hours ago
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Reading the moon's buried past
The lunar south pole looks chaotic from orbit. Craters heaped upon craters, ancient basins, scarps and slopes tumbling in every direction, it is without doubt, one of the most geologically complicated terrains in the inner ...
Planetary Sciences
6 hours ago
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JWST spots methane on a giant exoplanet, but its star may be distorting the signal
Using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), astronomers from Johns Hopkins University (JHU) and elsewhere have observed a giant exoplanet known as HATS-75 b. Results of the new observations, published April 8 on the arXiv ...
Subaru telescope captures comet 3I/ATLAS composition change
The Subaru Telescope observed the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS on January 7, 2026, after it made its closest approach to the sun. By observing colors in the coma around the comet, astronomers could estimate the ratio of carbon ...
Planetary Sciences
15 hours ago
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Young stars dim quickly in their X-ray output, potentially benefiting orbiting planets
Scientists have found that young stellar cousins of our sun are calming down and dimming more quickly in their X-ray output than previously thought, according to a new study using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. A paper ...
Astrobiology
Apr 14, 2026
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Virtual sunspots help AI find rare magnetic matches in vast solar archives
Research led by Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) has integrated three types of machine learning models to generate solar magnetic patches with physical properties and used those as a query to find matching patches in real ...
Astronomy
Apr 14, 2026
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Webb redefines the dividing line between planets and stars
Planets, like those in our solar system, form in a bottom-up process where small bits of rock and ice clump together and grow larger over time. But the heftier the planet, the harder it is to explain its formation that way.
Astronomy
Apr 14, 2026
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Cosmic dust identified as the source of Venus' enigmatic lower haze
Venus, often called Earth's twin, is in fact a planet of extremes. Beneath its thick carbon dioxide atmosphere are crushing surface temperatures and dense clouds of sulfuric acid. While the planet's main cloud layer sits ...
Planetary Sciences
Apr 14, 2026
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Contaminants, including ink, detected in meteorites suggest sample preparation needs improving
The IBeA group of the EHU-University of the Basque Country is proposing new measures to safeguard the purity of extraterrestrial samples. Several contaminants, including traces of ink, originating in the preparation of subsamples, ...
Astrobiology
Apr 14, 2026
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Artemis II crew used modern photography to tell the story of their lunar journey—and update some classic Apollo images
At this point in NASA's human spaceflight story, researchers have a substantial amount of material—documents, artifacts and images—with which to tell the stories of past flights to space. But with NASA's Artemis II mission ...
Space Exploration
Apr 13, 2026
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Is the moon more iron-rich than what we thought?
The moon is Earth's only natural satellite, a rocky celestial body that orbits our planet at an average distance of about 384,000 kilometers. The most widely accepted scientific explanation for the moon's origin is the "giant ...
Planetary Sciences
Apr 13, 2026
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First Proba-3 science: Surprisingly speedy solar wind found in inner corona
Since July 2025, the European Space Agency's pair of Proba-3 satellites has already created 57 artificial solar eclipses. So far, the mission has collected more than 250 hours of high-resolution videos of the sun's atmosphere, ...
Astronomy
Apr 13, 2026
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More news
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Other news
Scientists solve 100-year-old mystery behind rubber that powers modern life
As polar ice changes, so do the rules governing it
Emerging in Alaska, dominant H5N1 strain spread continent-wide through migratory birds
The largest survey of exoplanet spins confirms a long-held prediction
Image: NISAR views Mount St. Helens
NASA's water-hunting tool will help scout moon's South Pole
The depths of Neptune and Uranus may be 'superionic'
Webb eyes a pair of planet-forming disks
Earth from space: Eyes on our moon
Early data from Vera C. Rubin Observatory reveals over 11,000 new asteroids
Autonomy key to happiness, study finds
Researchers synthesize photosynthetic molecule found in bacteria
Sperm whale clicks follow similar rules to human speech
Quantum simulations reveal spin transport in 1D materials
Color test 'sniffs out' dangerous staph strains fast
